Mysterious shark head washed up along Ohio river was a ‘misunderstanding,’ owner says
Images of a shark head that washed up along a river in Ohio recently left many dumbfounded.
But how it got there was merely a misunderstanding — and the woman who left it behind is now offering a profuse apology.
Jamie Gambill and Hailey Weidner posted photos of the discovery to Facebook on Sunday and Monday after stumbling upon what appeared to be the head of a shark on the shore of the Great Miami River. The nearest ocean to the southwestern Ohio river is hundreds of miles away.
“I know this is graphic, but does anyone know what this is??” Weidner wrote on Facebook with images and video of the shark head. “I went on a walk by the Miami River. It looks like it was bit in half.”
The seemingly logical answer was that the head was fake. But Weidner quickly shot down that notion, mentioning how bad it smelled. Other people commented, believing it was a head belonging to a bull shark.
Weidner contacted wildlife officials, who offered an explanation to WHIO about the finding.
“Looks as though someone discarded it there,” officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources told the TV station. “We have seen situations like this before with people discarding shark parts of carcasses after fishing trips to the ocean.”
In a Facebook comment, Natalie Siler later revealed the real reason why a shark head was found in Ohio.
She detailed how it was “all a misunderstanding.”
“I bought it to fish from (Ohio market) Jungle Jim’s,” she said in all caps. “It’s a shark fin shark and I pushed it in for the fish to finish eating and it washed back up. I’m so sorry!!”
She posted an image with the shark head in her shopping cart and said it cost her $11. Siler wrote on Weidner’s post that she came forward so people wouldn’t be afraid to kayak on the river.
Mystery solved, and Weidner updated her post to let people roaming the Great Miami River know that they are safe from any possible shark attacks.
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